


A Prescription for the Heart

by icanshowyouthefandom



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: F/M, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Sokeefe - Freeform, Team Foster-Keefe, otp, please just kiss already, sophie is so bad at feelings seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-12-28 11:04:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21135674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icanshowyouthefandom/pseuds/icanshowyouthefandom
Summary: Things are going great with Fitz. No really, they are! Sophie's mind has finally stopped spazzing out about the boy with the teal eyes now that they’ve shared their first kiss. Her brain can finally be at peace.Except...Except why did she feel so miserable all the time? There was this horrible aching in her chest. This constant pressure pushing against her. She was sick! That had to be the answer. Of all the elves in the Lost Cities, she would be the one idiot who somehow ended up with a cold.Searching for answers, Sophie stumbles upon a book that can give her the exact answers she needs. Even if they weren't the answers she'd been expecting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Only two weeks until Legacy guys and I am freaking out! (With excitement!) Yes, Sophitz is canon right now. And that sucks. I screamed and threw Flashback against a wall when I read it. But...I can't help feeling like that's going to break apart. Slowly but surely, I truly feel like Shannon is steering us towards SoKeefe and I will revel in the glory of it all when its finally here!
> 
> So this is my version of how it could go down. And honestly, I just desperately needed for these two idiots to finally kiss. I haven't shipped anything this hard since Ron/Hermione, and I am LOVING it! (Also Keefe Sencen is (wo)man's greatest creation and I will stan him and his beautiful blond hair until the day I die!) 
> 
> So enjoy!! <3

* * *

The day that Sophie Foster was finally kissed by Fitz Vacker was a glorious day. He had taken her for a picnic under Calla’s tree and given her a panakes necklace and kissed her just as the stars were coming out. It had been everything she had been dreaming it would be. They weren’t dating yet, but that kiss had felt like something big. And maybe they were finally headed towards something _big_.

The only problem? Sophie’s chest had been a mess ever since. It was like Verdi was sitting on her chest, weighing her down all day long. Her heart banged around constantly, as if it were trying to tell her something.

“It must have been the panakes blossoms,” she had told herself the night of the kiss, long after Fitz had left.

But the problem was, the feeling wasn’t going away. When she walked down the halls at Foxfire holding Fitz’s hand, it was there too. Maybe she was allergic to his cologne or something? (Did elves even wear cologne?)

But that couldn’t be it either, because it was even worse when she was in class with Keefe. Her chest was practically screaming in pain during those the moments. But that was just anxiety! About Keefe’s constant teasing! Although, lately, Keefe hadn’t really seemed like he was in much of a joking mood.

Tired of worrying, Sophie decided to seek out help at the closest thing to “Web MD” that the Lost Cities had to offer –

“Hello Elwin.”

Elwin jumped and spun around to face her. “Sophie!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at lunch?”

Sophie shrugged and shuffled over to the cot. “I’m not really hungry.”

Elwin gently placed down the beakers of some elixir that probably tasted pretty terrible, based on the smell that was coming from it. His eyes were round with concern. “It’s your echo again, isn’t it?”

Sophie shook her head violently. “No, no. Sorry, Elwin. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I just…I haven’t been…. I think I’m sick.”

Elwin’s eyebrow shot up. “Sick? Sophie, elves can’t get sick.”

“Yeah, well, elves also aren’t supposed to have allergies and yet here I am – a modern miracle.”

He snorted and nodded. “That’s true. So, why do you think you’re sick?”

Sophie dove into an explanation all about the crushing feeling in her chest. Elwin nodded along with her explanation.

“And when did this all start?”

“Last week,” Sophie began, “after Fitz kis-.” A wave of embarrassment flushed over her. She couldn’t tell Elwin about Fitz! She hadn’t even told Edaline yet.

“After I was…outside for a while,” she corrected herself, praying that her red face didn’t give her away.

Elwin’s facial expression never changed, but there was a definite twinkle of amusement in his eyes that Sophie immediately decided to ignore.

“Ah. I see.”

He got up and walked over to his bookshelf full of healing books. “Well Sophie, unfortunately I absolutely have to get these beakers over to Elementalism, just in case things go sour in this afternoon’s bottling session. But I have a couple books that I really think might help you out with your…sickness.”

She didn’t like the way she said that word – _sickness_. As if he knew something humorous and was keeping her out of the loop. But Sophie was grateful for his help nevertheless, and she thanked him as he handed the pile of books to her.

“Stay as long as you need, Sophie,” he said, with a sort of sympathy in his voice.

Then he left her alone.

The first two books were all about the Healing properties of Flashers. Which colors to use and when. She wasn’t sure what that had to do with her chest pain, but she flipped through the pages anyway. The gigantic books took more time than she would have liked, and it was almost time for afternoon sessions to begin.

Sophie sighed and pushed the book pile off her lap. She had to get to class, and it certainly didn’t seem like Elwin was coming back any time soon.

Struggling with the giant pile, Sophie did her best to put them back on his shelves, when the smallest book slipped through the pile and landed on the floor.

Sophie let out another long-suffering sigh. “Seriously, can’t I catch a break?” she mumbled to herself.

But the title on the small white book made her lose her train of self-pity – _The Heart of the Matter_.

It was Keefe’s dad’s book. The one Keefe had been forced to read during their time living with the Neverseen. The back cover showed a very haughty picture of Lord Cassius, which made Sophie’s empty stomach churn with irritation, over the words “Written by the Lost Cities’ #1 Authority on Empathy”. “What a jerk,” she muttered to herself. But her curiosity was peaked. Why had Keefe complained so much about this book? It wasn’t even that big.

Even though she was pressed on time, Sophie flipped to the table of contents. “Head Emotions, Heart Emotions,” she read to herself, “Learning to Decipher….” Sophie trailed off as her brain hyper-focused on the next chapter – ‘When the Head and the Heart Don’t Meet – The Physical Symptoms’.

As if in a daze, she flipped to the correct page and began pouring over the words:

> _People often wonder how I became so exceptional at Empathy, and the truth, of course, is that I was cursed with this blessing since birth. However, during my time studying Flashers and their patients, I noticed something that most Flashers missed – that feelings can manifest themselves in different ways and that these feelings can even set off certain physical symptoms. This is especially true if these feelings are not dealt with properly. Most Flashers need to do a thorough analysis in order to pick up on these signs, but, of course, I am able to tell just by looking at the patient. Suppressed head emotions are shown through constant headaches, a buzzing sound in the ears, and fainting spells. While suppressed heart emotions are expressed through rapid heart rate and chest pressure/pain. Often these symptoms are not strong enough to warrant an examination; however, if the patient ignores the emotions too long, they can end up in the infirmary. Another reason these physical symptoms erupt is if a certain event, especially one filled with intense emotions already, triggers the suppressed emotions into overdrive. _

The book clattered out of her hand and smacked into the floor. But the sound wasn’t loud enough to shake Sophie from her stupor. Suppressed emotions? That was crazy. But those were the symptoms…her exact symptoms. The night of Fitz’s kiss, _an event with intense emotions_, was when all of this had started.

Her chest screamed with pain. So, it _was_ trying to tell her something. The problem was…she didn’t know what.

Quick as she could, Sophie snatched up the book and burst out of the Healing Center door, practically bowling Elwin over in the process.

“Sophie!” Elwin grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

“I have to go home!” Sophie basically shouted at him. Her eyes felt wild, and she couldn’t look directly at him.

Elwin glanced down at the book in her hands and nodded subtly, as if he wasn’t surprised. “I understand. I’ll contact your parents and tell them you’re on your way. And I’ll let your teachers know.”

Sophie managed one nod and rushed out the school doors.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week until Legacy! o(˚▽˚)o YAY!! And to celebrate here's the rest of the story!

_Knock knock knock._

"Sophie? Are you sure you're okay? You've been locked in there for hours."

Edaline's voice broke in through Sophie's spinning mind. She focused long enough to answer with a "Seriously I'm okay" and went back to her studies.

Heart emotions.

_Apparently_, they had to do with "intense feelings"...as in _feeling_ feelings. As in _love_.

Love, crushes, all of that lovely stuff that Sophie had been trying to avoid for the past few years. She wasn't any good at it. This "lovey-dovey" stuff. Even when she was with Fitz, she still felt so nervous and awkward. She had been over-thinking that kiss the whole time it had been happening. Her hand didn't fit quite right in his. But that must have been because she just wasn't used to it yet. It would get better. Biana had promised her it would.

And if she was _finally _dealing with this "love stuff", then why were the symptoms showing up now? She had been repressing her crush on Fitz for years. Now they were together...and now her body decided to break down?

_Knock knock knock._

Sophie stifled a sigh. "I'm okay, Edaline," she shouted with as much patience as she could muster. "Honestly, I'll be down soon. Just give me a couple more minutes."

"Uh, this isn't Edaline," the voice replied. "It's me, Foster."

Her heart practically jumped out of her throat. She _knew_ that voice. She should have ignored him. Sent him away. But her traitorous legs stood up and ran to the door.

She flung the door back and there he was. "What are you doing here, Keefe?" she demanded.

"I came to check on the Mysterious Miss F, of course!" 

"Keefe! School is still in session!"

He shrugged. "And? Honestly, what's one more detention gonna do to me at this point?" Keefe slipped past her and wandered into her room. "Besides," he continued, "Elwin gave me permission."

"He WHAT?"

"Yeah I came looking for you since you had disappeared before lunch and so I naturally checked your favorite part of the school first - the Healing Center - and Elwin told me you were here. Said I might need to talk to you about something?"

She was going to kill him. When she got back to school tomorrow, there wouldn't be enough elixirs in the world to save Elwin from the pain she would put him through.

And by pain she meant...a very serious talking to about her privacy. (No matter how mad she was, she could never actually inflict on Elwin.)

Sophie slid back against the door, shutting it quietly. She kept her eyes closed, trying to ignore the chest pains that were starting to flare up again.

"Seriously Foster...what's wrong?"

Sophie slowly opened her troubled brown eyes to see that Keefe was leaning so close to her. She could see every streak of white in his ice blue eyes and the cracks in his full pink lips. He smelled so good - had he always smelled like that? - and it was making her dizzy and it was making her heart -

Sophie gasped and stumbled forward as her chest pain screeched once more.

Keefe shot forward to catch her and she landed squarely against his chest. "Foster? What the hell is going on?" His voice was shaking, but it sounded muffled to her with his strong arms wrapped around her. And she knew how cheesy that sounded...that his strong arms were keeping her safe and his hard chest was a place she never wanted to stop resting against. It was all so lame, but it was also...all so true.

Since when had she ever thought about Keefe that way? Of course, she wasn't an idiot. She knew he was an attractive guy...elf...whatever. But they were just friends. Maybe even best friends. She did find herself confiding in him when she felt like no one else in the world could understand. But she had Fitz. Even if it never quite felt like this when he held her. 

Her arms began snaking their way around Keefe, up his back, where her fingers dug into his vest. Her body snuggled into his.

"Foster?" Keefe squeaked.

Her brain knew she should be horrified. What the hell was she doing? And with _Keefe _no less. But her heart-

Her heart wasn't heavy anymore. 

The chest pain was completely gone.

Sophie shoved herself back. "No. No. Absolutely not. No way."

She began pacing back and forth on her flowered rug.

"Foster. What was that?"

His voice didn't sound right. He sounded awestruck, concerned, and maybe even a little breathless? Sophie stopped in her tracks and snuck a side glance over at the boy who was currently playing mind games with her head. No. That wasn't right. With her heart. He stood there, one arm wrapped around his chest and the other one stuck firmly in his perfectly coiffed hair. If he wasn't careful he was going to rip a chunk out. Or make it fall flat again. Although, it had looked kinda cute like that last time.

Oh my god, what was wrong with her?

"I don't know, Keefe! You tell me!" Sophie shouted in frustration.

"Me? How would I know? First you start seizing over like one of those girls in the dramas that Dex's mom watches and then the next minute you're all...you're-." He couldn't even finish the sentence. Couldn't explain what Sophie had been doing - not that Sophie had any idea either. 

Wait, was Keefe _blushing_?

"You're an Empath! Explain this book to me, would you?" Sophie marched over towards _The Heart of the Matter_ and dropped it into his hands.

Keefe snorted. "Why are you reading my father's book? Trouble in paradise for ol' Fitzphie?" He looked up to wink at her, but Sophie was already sitting on her bed with her face buried in her hands. "Sophie...I was just teasing." He reached forwards and grabbed one of her hands. They laced perfectly together, and Sophie instantly felt herself calming down.

"You're doing that breeze thing again, aren't you?" she asked without looking at him.

"No, I'm not."

"Keefe, yes you are. Quit lying."

Keefe bent forward and forced himself in her line of vision. "Why would I lie about that, Foster? Honestly! You're wearing your gloves. You'd know that if you quit avoiding me and just looked."

Sophie allowed her eyes to slowly trace down to their hands intertwined. He was right. The gloves were on.

"Then why is it working?" she whispered without thinking.

Keefe's eyes widened and any trace of mischief or snark that was usually there was gone. Instead, the scared little kid that Sophie had seen only once before stared back at her, as if she held his entire future in the palm of her hands. And it scared her so deeply that Sophie once again forgot how to breath. She slipped her hand away from his and pressed it hard against her palpitating chest.

"So, you're having chest pains?" Keefe asked softly. When Sophie nodded, he continued, "Shortness of breath? Chest pressure, too?" Sophie nodded again.

"I see."

Sophie's heart lifted. "You do?"

Keefe nodded once more. 

"Oh, thank god. Keefe, what's wrong with me? Why am I feeling like this? I keep rereading your dad's book, but it doesn't make any sense. Please, Keefe. I'm scared."

He stood up slowly and glanced back with a pained expression. "I've always been pretty good at reading your emotions, Foster. And sometimes it really really sucked. I hated watching you with him, but I promised myself that I would never get in the way of what you wanted. And that's why I can't answer this for you. You have to figure this one out for yourself." He leaned down slowly and placed one hand under her chin and so slowly that Sophie thought she might forget how to breath completely; he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. A million jolts of electricity spun through her skin.

"I've waited a really long time for this, Sophie Foster. You know where to find me once you figure it out." He gave her the saddest smile. "And I _really_ hope you figure it out."

And then he walked out of her room.

Sophie sat in shock on her bed. What was all of that? What was Keefe hinting at? But why, oh why, did she actually feel better? For the first time since Fitz's kiss, Sophie felt like she could breathe again. Even more than that, she felt like her whole body was lighter than it had felt in ages. He had always been the only one who had been able to do that to her. She had always assumed it had been because he was a highly skilled Empath. But what if there was more to it than that?

Her brain flew through all of their memories together. There were moments when she had wanted nothing more than to kill him. But more often than not, she found herself relying on him over and over again. He was the one she always sought out when her head was in shambles. Then she remembered how she had fallen apart when he had left for the Neverseen. She spent weeks crying to herself when she thought no one was looking. She had started ripping out her eyelashes again, despite the fact that she had almost kicked the habit right he had left. Whenever she and Fitz fought, or he got angry with her, it hurt. But Keefe leaving her side had practically shattered her heart completely. 

Edaline peeked her head into the room. "Sophie, honey, are you okay? You look terrible! What happened?"

"Mom," Sophie whispered, "I'm in love with Keefe, aren't I?"

Edaline's blue eyes crinkled up. "Oh, honey. It took you long enough."

Sophie raced down the beach of the Shores of Solace. She could see his blond hair rustling in the ocean breeze as he swung on the front porch swing and her heart lightened even more.

"Keefe!” she shouted. 

Of course, he couldn't hear her from here, so instead she bounded up the stairs and stood gasping for air in front of him.

"Foster! What are you-?"

"I was an idiot, Keefe."

He snickered and a little bit of his snarky charm came back. "It's alright. Your obliviousness makes you even cuter."

Her heart sped up. "So, you think I'm cute?"

A light ring of red lined his ears. "Ah. Okay. I'm not used to you being this forward."

"But you flirt with all the girls." Sophie pointed out, trying to clarify what was going on between them and remembering something he had told Grady a long time ago.

Keefe cocked his head. "Do I? What other girls have you ever heard me flirt with besides you and Glitter Butt?"

Sophie wracked her brain trying to remember. But she came up short.

She broke out into a huge grin. "You like me, don't you?"

This time the redness could not be ignored even though Keefe desperately tried to hide most of it behind his one hand. "Hey! We aren't here to talk about me. We're here to talk about you and your heart emotion problems."

She opened her mouth to tell him, but she couldn't find that courage that had pushed her flying from her house to find him. This was so much bigger now that he was standing here in front of her. Keefe Sencen. Her best friend in the world. How could she possibly tell him how she felt? It was all so big.

"You're an Empath!" Sophie tried again. Her hands itched to pick at her eyelashes to relieve some of the nerves. "Can't you tell how I feel?"

Keefe slowly shook his head. "I...I need to hear this from you."

She barely had a voice, so she did the only thing she could think of - her stood on her tiptoes, pulled Keefe down to her level and whispered with as much strength as she could muster, "I love you, Keefe Sencen."

Keefe scooped her up and let out a whoop so loud that he practically broke her eardrums. But she didn't care. Keefe spun her around and around on the porch, hooting and hollering until Sophie couldn't help but laugh along with him. "I've waited so long for this moment, Sophie! You have no idea! I've waited so long!" he shouted over and over. "Ro thought I was an idiot for waiting!" 

When Keefe finally put her back on the ground, Sophie mumbled apologetically, "Well I'm sorry it took so long. I'm not very good at this stuff. At "heart emotions" or "feelings" or whatever the heck they are."

Keefe let out another crazy laugh. "That's right! And after all this time, my _father's book_ is the thing that finally got things through that pretty little noggin of yours. I guess I finally have something to thank him for after all. Oh, he'll just love that."

"'Thank him for'? So, you do like me?" she squeaked nervously. It certainly seemed like he liked her with all this hooting and hollering, but she had just confessed her love to him! The least he could do was -

But Sophie couldn't even finish that thought.

Because, unlike the last time when she had been kissed by Fitz, this time when Keefe's beautiful mouth finally landed on hers, her brain went to complete mush. His lips were warm and soft yet hard and strong. He wove his arms around her body and pulled her in tight until their bodies were completely flush with each other. Sophie's hand tangled themselves up in that hair that she had been subconsciously been dying to touch for years. And it was everything she had hoped it would be. Their lips wove together perfectly like they had been created for this exact moment. For this exact kiss. Her breath was going haywire by the time he finally pulled back but this time it wasn't in a bad way. It was in a way that made her feel like she was finally complete.

"Does that answer your question, Foster?"

Sophie's head and heart were still pretty foggy with happiness. She couldn't even remember what the question had been at this moment. "Question?"

Keefe hung his head and sighed, but in a playful way. "Honestly, what am I going to do with you, Foster?" He grabbed her face gently in his hands and whispered, "I'm in love with you, Sophie Elizabeth Foster. Hopelessly, ridiculously in love. And I'm pretty sure it's been that way since the moment I met you. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you're just as happy as you are right now." He gave her a shy smile, which was still so unlike him that it made Sophie smile too. "Because, you are happy...right, Sophie?

Sophie smiled back up at him. "Hopelessly, ridiculous happy. Sorry, it took me so long to get my head and heart in order."

Pulling her back in, Keefe's wicked grin spread back over his face. "Eh! I knew that my beautiful hair and charming personality would wear you down eventually."

Sophie shook her head. But then Keefe locked eyes with her again. "But seriously, Sophie. Some people are worth waiting for. And I would do it one-thousand times over, if it meant that I could relive this moment with you."

And his lips covered hers once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this SoKeefe story to tide you along until (hopefully) Shannon makes this thing canon! (^_^)


End file.
